Sneak Peek of the Ahmadu Bello University in the 1960s
1960s, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Just 147 of the 426 students who enrolled in all programs at the school’s founding in 1962 were from the North.
1960s, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Just 147 of the 426 students who enrolled in all programs at the school’s founding in 1962 were from the North.
“Men of color asked me my opinion on airplanes.” “I’ll be the first to buy one if they’re brought to Hausa land in Nigeria,” I declared. Image Info: M. Dikko, the Katsina emir, and his offspring visited England in 1933
In an interview, General Olusegun Obasanjo revealed how, when they were detained, General Sani Abacha wanted him, the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, and the late Moshood Abiola, the hero of June 12th, dead. He made this statement during a dinner program hosted by Christ The Redeemer’s Friends International of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province 39 Chapter, an interdenominational Christian organization. The former president said that Yar’Adua was poisoned by Abacha’s assassination team and that he was supposed to be the next casualty, but that he was spared by God’s providential intervention. “Two people had earlier told me,” stated Obasanjo. Abacha pledged that none of the three of us—including me—would escape jail or custody alive. MKO Abiola and Shehu Yar Adua. Additionally, two of them perished. Given that I survived, perhaps God has a purpose. Thus, it’s okay if the goal is for me to serve the people and, in doing so, serve God. I was allegedly planning a coup by Abacha. It wasn’t me who got arrested first. I attempted to ask for Shehu’s (Yar’Adua) release after he was taken into custody. I told Abacha that the second-most powerful man in this nation could not be detained without your knowledge when he claimed he was unaware of Shehu’s detention. He then said he would go and find out. “Abacha excluded God from his design, and as a result, it (his government) ultimately collapsed. Every single one of us and every single institution has God’s hand in it. That, in my opinion, is really credible. “I was placed in isolation for three months after being detained and brought to a home in Ikoyi, Lagos.…
Pictured from left to right are Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, and General Aguiyi Ironsi at a party he threw in Lagos. Little did they realize, however, that the coup of January 15, 1966, was still going on. This photo was taken in 1966, and hours later, he and Okotie-Eboh were assassinated. When Maimalari was celebrating his recent marriage the day before the coup on January 15, 1966, he had no idea that among the guests were rebel leaders who would later come back to haunt him.He fled through the back of his house on the day of the coup as soon as rebel soldiers invaded it. He first fled into a small room inside the complex before emerging onto the main road. He saw a car on the road and thought it was headed to Ikeja, but it turned out to be a rebel vehicle, and he was taken prisoner and subsequently executed.
General Murtala Muhammed, the head of state, is pictured (R) with Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo, the military governor of Kwara state (L), during the 1975 Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Less than two months after this photo was taken, they were killed.
Zaria saw a protest in 1966 against the January coup that led to the ruthless killings of Kur Mohammed, Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, and Zakariya Maimalari, among others. A coup that occurred in Nigeria in 1966 had a significant effect on the country’s political climate. A coup d’état led by a gang of youthful army officers on January 15, 1966, culminated in the assassinations of numerous prominent political personalities, including Ahmadu Bello, Zakariya Maimalari, Kur Mohammed, and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. The First Republic of Nigeria came to an end with this coup, and Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi took over as president of state. The Nigerian Civil War was ultimately caused by the political unrest that followed the events of 1966.
The entry of the Icons: In 1961, the University of Ifé held its first Provisional Council’s inauguration. The lone female member of the Council, Lady Deborah Jibowu, is pictured with Chief F.R.A. Williams, Ooni Oba Adesoji Aderemi, Premier S.L. Akintola, Prof. Oladele Ajose, Vice-Chancellor, and Minister of Education, Dr. Sanya Onabamiro.
From 1954 to 1956 and again from 1964 to 1965, Nigerian football player and coach Daniel Amobi Amadi Anyiam (November 26, 1926 – July 6, 1977) led the national team. He was a player and the first captain of the national team in 1949 before beginning his coaching career. After the Nigerian Civil War, he served as a national team selector and the first coach of the Enugu Rangers.
Obasanjo revealed in a 2017 interview that Yar’Adua was injected with a virus by Abacha, which finally caused his death. He also acknowledged being shocked to have survived Abacha’s prison system, where he had been imprisoned alongside MKO and Shehu Yar’Adua. The entire tale will be revealed later tonight. During Nigeria’s military takeover from 1976 until 1979, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a Nigerian politician and general, served as Supreme Headquarters’ Chief of Staff and as the country’s de facto vice president. During the subsequent changeover from military to civilian government in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a well-known politician. Photo Image: At the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, UK, in 1963, is a picture of Shehu Musa Yar’adua, the brother of the late former president Umar Musa Yar’adua, on the far right.
A picture from the early 1990s shows little Halima Babangida, the youngest member of the family, stealing the show on the red carpet. Can you spot the little girl with a Louis Vuitton bag?
When Bishop Kayode Williams found himself in the wrong crowd, he was just a youngster attending secondary school. Men whose actions rocked the country in the 1970s trained him. the likes of Babatunde Folorunso, Ishola Oyenusi, and a few others. He is one of the recognized bright spots from Oyenusi’s gloomy past, trained in the 1970s after straying into Oyenusi’s group as a teenager, along with other infamous criminals. ten years in prison for armed robbery. Bishop Kayode Williams Williams was born in 1954, and his road into crime is a singular tale. Williams, the lone kid of his mother’s two children, didn’t turn to thievery due to hardship, in contrast to many bandits who sought to escape poverty by whatever means. In the 1960s, his mother, a well-known fabric merchant in Ibadan’s well-known Gbagi market, was a devoted Christian. At the time, Gbagi was one of Nigeria’s largest and most well-known fabric marketplaces. The only people who could afford to own a business at Gbagi were wealthy individuals and the spouses of politicians. Williams informed our source that H.I.D. Awolowo, the late Premier of the Western Region’s wife, operated a fabric store adjacent to his mother’s Gbagi store. “My mother had that type of elitist combination of life,” he said. She owned a sizable store in Gbagi at the time and wasn’t just a small-time fabric merchant. And his mom made sure he received a top-notch education. “My mother is a mother at heart and had a significant role in my upbringing. In an interview, he informed our source, “She did all in her power to make sure I lived a decent life and was a Christian. Williams had a sports interest as well. He disclosed to our source that he was the goalie for the football squad of Hope Grammar School, Ibadan, which is currently known as Adelagun Memorial Grammar School. “I had a great reputation as a superb goalie. I kept goals for WNBC and IICC in my youth. When Williams wandered into a group of wealthy young guys in his neighborhood, things took a bad turn. They were in their 20s, and he was an adolescent. He found them interesting, respected their methods, and aspired to emulate them. Despite claiming not to enjoy discussing his unpleasant history, Williams previously described how, from the 1960s to the early 1970s, he was among the most feared armed robbers in Western Nigeria. The men in the group were neighborhood guys he looked up to. When I encountered them in secondary school, they urged me to assist them in purchasing a pack of smokes, which I did. I paid two shillings and six pence for the cigarette, and I gave them the remaining seventeen and six pence after using the one pound note that I had been given. However, they advised me to follow the balance. That exceeded my teacher’s pay at the time, which was 17 shillings,” he remarked. The decision to contact the gang the next day to express gratitude for the present marked the …
Late Igwe John Ejikeme Nebeolisa, also known as Joneb, Arusi Awkuzu, or Igwe Ibilibeogada—which translates to “The biggest the town has ever seen”—was a well-known figure in the 1980s and 1990s Igbo elite and multibillionaire circles. He was close to the late Eze ego of Ihiala and the powerful Chief Morris Ibekwe of Okwelle Holdings. In addition, he was a trailblazer and a prominent member of the Peoples Club of Nigeria during that time. Members of this social club included many multibillionaires, most of them with dubious sources of wealth. For the majority of Nigerians, the millionaire members of this group were either associated with dubious ventures, customs, blood money, or other related activities. But these were mere speculations because there was no proof. In his heyday, John Nebeolisa was the epitome of what a man might hope to become. He drove a brand-new Peugeot 504, a limousine, and other high-end vehicles. Whatever was popular in the 1990s, Joneb had it all. He traveled in convoy and with bodyguards. In addition to owning properties in Abuja, Lagos, and overseas, Joneb had enterprises throughout the eastern area. His ventures included lodging facilities, tour companies, and other contentious enterprises. He amassed enormous wealth at the time from his dubious ventures, but he also spent it as if there were no tomorrow. In his musical recordings, the late Chief Dr. Oliver De Coque, the maestro of Igbo highlife, chanted his praises to the skies. Ozoemena Nsugbe (Ayaka), a well-known Igbo musician, also sang laudatory songs about him. Oliver De Coque once devoted an entire album to the proprietor of the formerly well-known Joneb Holiday Inn in Awkuzu. Despite his money and influence, which are inherent to man, Joneb remained dissatisfied with his accomplishments as a multimillionaire in his thirties. How He Acquired Awkuzu’s Kingship: The controversial businessman Joneb stated his ambition to become the King of Awkuzu, a town in the Oyi local government area of Anambra State, challenging the long-standing Igbo tradition in the region. Joneb’s desire for fame and power drove him to this extreme. Following the demise of King Aganama IV, the Late Igwe John Ejikeme Nebeolisa seized the kingdom by force. The multimillionaire initially gave the impression that he was bluffing to the majority of the town’s elders, dignitaries, and Igwe in council until he broke into each of their homes one by one carrying bags stuffed with’mints’ of naira notes that anyone who opposed his goal had never seen in their lives. Because of his immense wealth, Joneb was able to purchase his way into the throne. He bought off everyone who may …
Isoko North’s capital city is Ozoro. According to legend, Opute founded Ozoro when he and his wife, Ozoro, moved to Isokoland in the Niger Delta Region in the seventh century from the coasts of Igodomigodo, the previous name of the Benin Kingdom. This occurred between 600 and 618 AD, under the rule of Ogiso Orrorro, the seventh Ogiso (King) of the Great Benin Kingdom. The local government headquarters of the Isoko North Local Government Area in Delta State, Nigeria, is located in Ozoro, the most populated town in the Isoko Nation. The oral tradition that has been passed down to the current generation speaks proudly of their ancestry and descent from “AKA,” or EDO and Ubini, as their people affectionately refer to the Great Benin Empire. Opute, their founding father and great ancestor, was a legendary warrior. From ancient Benin, he immigrated with his spouse Ozoro. Opute was compelled by circumstances to abandon his birthplace. He was a persona non grata because of issues at home. According to oral tradition, Ogwaran and Opute were sons of the same father but separate mothers. A brawl broke out between their mothers after they argued in the marketplace. During the battle, Okpe, Opute’s younger brother, accidentally blinded Ogwaran’s mother by shutting an arrow. Opute is terrified of his giant brother Ogwaran’s infamous strength and wrath. Opute left the Benin kingdom with his wife Ozoro, his younger brother Okpe, and his brothers Odume, Osumiri, Ozormo, Etimi, Iselewu, and Obodogwa—all descended from the same mother—before Ogwaren could return. Obogelowo, Ogwaran’s medicine man, gave Opute and his brothers a fierce chase. When they reached the Ologbo River, Obogelowo broke off the chase and went back to Benin; he was unable to cross the river for fear of losing his magical abilities. With a wealth of magical abilities from his victories in battle and endeavors, Opute departed the shores of Benin. His father gave him a magical staff (“Usu”), the seed of a possession tree, and the replication/artifacts of his own deity.…
A1980s picture of a young Ondo woman in Lagos dressed entirely in colorful Aso oke, a traditional outfit.
Igboho plays a significant role in the former Oyo Empire’s history. Although Oyo plays a significant role in Yoruba history, Igboho’s contribution to the Oyo Empire’s durability cannot be ignored or forgotten. Gbage’s departure from Ilesha marked the beginning of the Igboho people. After a struggle for the chieftaincy, Gbage’s younger brother was crowned Owa. In an attempt to bring about peace, the (angry) elder brother fled the realm. Gbage Olabinukuro, the elder brother, departed the Owa palace and established Ebiti, his own hamlet. To this new residence, he was accompanied by all of his admirers, including hunters. During that historical period, the ancient Oyo Empire was invaded by Fulani. They made Alaafin Ofinran and his people leave their house. Alaafin met Gbage, who had moved from Ilesha, when he arrived in Ebiti. Alaafin Ofinran said that Gbage was a strong, charming man who possessed great strength when fighting or hunting. The relative calm and tranquility of the community astounded Alaafin Ofinran. After that, he asked who the head was—usually referred to as Baale—and Gbage was asked to meet with Alaafin. It was Gbage who greeted him. After Kishi, they arrived at a river (Sanya), where Alaafin’s wife gave birth to a newborn boy named Tella Abisipa, or a child born on the route. Upon arriving to the center of Igbo-Oba, which is still known by that name today, the oracle informed them that they would be staying there. Two birds were battling on a tree beneath which they were all sitting when the herbalist was performing a divination. One of the birds was an Igbo bird (Eye Igbo), and the other was an Oyo bird (Eye Oyo). After the two birds were slaughtered, Ifa was offered their blood as a sacrifice. The names Igbo-oyo and Igboho were derived from these two birds, Igbo and Oyo. It was alleged that Alaafin Ofinran was interred there. Following the deaths of around four Alaafin in Igboyo, Tella Abisipa, who was …
Lagos Island’s “IDEJO” (white cap chiefs): Olofin Atekoye, the man who established Isale Eko (Lagos) and initially made his home on Iddo Island, is the father of the Idejo White Cap Chiefs of Lagos. Following the demise of this fabled individual, currently recognized as the progenitor of the land-owning chiefs of Lagos, his progeny scattered around the city, consolidating their dominance. They would congregate for nine days in a row in Iga Idunganran, the Lagos oba’s palace, for state sessions from these locales. They conducted prayer rituals, talked about important matters, shared meals with extended family members and friends, feasted, anddanced to the sounds of the Gbedu and Igbe drums during these get-togethers. According to Lagos folklore, Idejo chiefs are descended from Olofin and were the first landowners on the island of Lagos.Certain Idejo nobility members, like the Elegushi, have had their rank increased to that of an Oba. Olumegbon, Aromire, Oloto, Oluwa, Oniru, Onisowo, Onitolo, Elegushi, Ojoro, and Onikoyi were among Olofin’s thirty-two offspring. Idejo chiefs can be identified by their regal attire, which includes a white cap and fan. Some chiefs found homes closer to Lagos Island and the Oba’s palace due to the distances and mishaps they experienced on their way there. They were given support by the Lagos State Government to return to their various domains and establish themselves as first-class monarchs during the late Oba Adeyinka Ayinde Oyekan’s reign. Title of Ojora: Formerly: Chief Ojora of Lagos Now: Oba Ojora of Ijora and Iganmu Kingdom, Coker Aguda Local Council Development Area Current Occupant: Oba Abdul Fatai Oyeyinka Aremu Aromire, Oyegbemi II Title of Oniru:…
The seasoned actor Pa Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, also referred to as Olu Jacobs, is seen in a picture with his wife Joke Silva at a restaurant in the early 1990s. The movie icon celebrated his 82nd birthday yesterday, we celebrate you sir!
Fifty-five years ago, a picture showed two youthful military leaders in their twenties during the 1960s: Abdulasalam Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida. Babangida is currently 82 years old, and Abubakar is 81 years old. Both men are in their early 80s. Sani Abacha, their third acquaintance, would be 81 years old if he were still living. Nigeria’s military head of state, Abubakar, presided over the country from 1998 to 1999; Babangida did so from 1985 until his retirement in 1993.
Photo of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Premier of the Western Region, after he was installed by Alaafin Gbadegesin Ladigbolu II of Oyo as the 13th Aare Ona Kakanfo (Military Generalissimo) of Yorubaland in 1964, after a 79-year sabbatical. Akintola is dressed in a traditional animal leather garment, the clothing made of animal skins represents fortitude, strength, and power.
Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu offered Brigadier Babafemi O. Ogundipe the post of head of state in the 1960s, a turbulent time in Nigerian history. But Brigadier Ogundipe politely turned down the offer, preferring peace and allegiance to authority. He left Nigeria for London the very following day. From January 1966 to August 1966, Babafemi Olatunde Ogundipe served as the first Chief of Staff and de facto second-in-command at Supreme Headquarters, during the military administration of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. During the military dictatorship of General Yakubu Gowon, he served as the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from September 1966 until August 1970. On September 6, 1924, he was born to parents from Ago-Iwoye, which is now in the western Nigerian state of Ogun. In 1941, he enlisted in the Royal West African Frontier Force, and from 1942 to 1945, he served in Burma. Following the Second World War, he reenlisted and became a brigadier in May 1964. One year after the civil war, on November 20, 1971, he passed away in London.